Navico prevails in patent-infringement case

Navico, parent company of the Lowrance, Simrad Yachting and B&G brands, announced that it has successfully concluded litigation with ArCzar regarding patent infringement.

In December 2011 ArCzar filed a lawsuit against Navico, asserting patent infringement, according to a statement by Navico.

Committed to vigorously defend against such suits, Navico’s policy is to refuse speedy cash settlements. As a result, ArCzar’s lawsuit backfired and the company wound up paying Navico thousands of dollars to resolve the matter.

ArCzar alleged that Navico had infringed upon three of its patents. However, after unsuccessful settlement discussions, ArCzar withdrew its patent infringement lawsuit.

Navico, in a strategic move to eliminate the uncertainty of future patent litigation from ArCzar, filed a lawsuit against the company seeking a declaration of invalidity and non-infringement of all ArCzar patents.

Additionally, ArCzar was provided with a proposed settlement agreement and covenant not to sue that would resolve all pending litigation, including the lawsuit Navico filed.

In the settlement agreement, Navico sought to recover a portion of its attorney’s fees for the original litigation, and as part of the settlement ArCzar paid Navico. Navico filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, which the court acted on Dec. 3 with its entry of an order that said the case was terminated.

“We are extremely pleased that this meritless lawsuit has been disposed in such a prompt fashion,” Dona Edwards, Navico’s chief intellectual property counsel, said in a statement. “It is Navico’s policy that we will not knuckle under to attacks of this kind.”

A recent Reuters interview with Santa Clara University law professor Colleen Chein in 2012 said 61 percent of all patent lawsuits filed through Dec. 1 were brought by “patent-assertion entities,” or individuals and companies that work aggressively and opportunistically to assert patents as a business model rather than build their own technology.